Franchisees

It is franchisees who need most to be beware, since they are the main target of Philip Dunne’s scam.  And they really do get scammed in the full sense of the word.  It’s very important to understand that Philip Dunne is not seriously looking for a partner. He’s simply trying to make a sale. That’s what he basically is, a salesman.  That’s how he makes a large part of his living, by selling franchises. 

As long as you’re reasonably up to the job he’ll accept your offer, because he knows he can later terminate you or pressure you under the terms of the contract.  And then re-sell.  In fact, he will introduce the idea of breach of contract very early in your relationship, as this will keep you suitably terrified and easy to manipulate. He probably does have a Plan A for a long term partner, but the only person who would succeed in that role would be a carbon copy of himself.  And a carbon copy of Philip Dunne would be unlikely to be dumb enough to buy an Island TEFL franchise in the first place.  That’s why Plan B, terminate and re-sell, is his normal way forward.  Philip Dunne must have made close on a six figure dollar sum over the last couple of years just by doing this.

There are several tell-tale signs for potential franchisees.  One of them is that he doesn’t bother to meet you, but tries to do the deal online.  If he was serious about a long term relationship, he would want to meet you in person.  It would be in his interest to do so, since he would want to sound you out properly, and be sure you’re the right person for the job. The other sign is that once you have made the purchase, your relationship quickly changes to a very formal one, where contractual obligations reign supreme.  There’s no longer any flexibility or even a pretence of chumminess.  Philip Dunne will hold you responsible for everything in your locality. 

If he senses you’re not the right person, which will probably be pretty quickly, he will start insulting you.  He will trash you on every front, first your competence, then your character, and even your professionalism as a teacher.  Maybe even try and get some dirt on you.  He likes to sell to people with good professional backgrounds, as that makes them easier to market, but also with little real business experience.  That way, they are easy to bully.  There are plenty of people in the EFL world who fit the bill.  Another reason he will insult you is because he doesn’t want to be friends with you, as he knows he’s later going to "do you over”.  And it’s easier to do that to an enemy than a friend.  And that’s pretty much how most franchisees feel by the end of the Philip Dunne experience. 

An important corollary of termination is also that it will disqualify you from receiving any payment.  So you may get a double whammy, in that you will have already put a lot of time and energy into the business, maybe even delivered a course.  But you won’t receive a cent.  There could even be a triple whammy in that he may threaten to sue you further after the termination, because you have lost the company (read: Philip Dunne) thousands of dollars.

But this brings us on to two very important legal facts about Island TEFL.  Firstly, Island TEFL is not registered or paying tax in Thailand, so actually it would difficult for him to bring a case, without putting himself properly on the legal radar.  Also, there’s his own criminal past, a statutory rape case on Koh Samui.  On the other hand, he can also easily avoid any legal action you or anyone else might bring against him because he travels another passport (yes, he has two) under the name of Philip Crabb.  And, remember, Island TEFL will have no official address in Thailand, other than yours. He's incredibly difficult to catch. It’s an absurd situation.

What you’re really buying if buy an Island TEFL franchise is nothing more than Philip Dunne’s business plan.  There will be nothing real on the ground.  It’s all dreams, pie in the sky.  You will have to do everything yourself almost from scratch.  In short, Philip drops you in the shit and then tells you to get on with it, constantly reminding you of your contractual obligations to him.  A good example might be if you’re renting premises from another school.  Well, obviously you’re not going to able to register your company there.  So you will immediately be in breach of contact.  The rest will be history.  All Philip Dunne does is signs up students, takes their money and then has you do all the real work.  And, remember, he controls the money flow, so you feel completely powerless.  In a way, it’s slave labour, because if you’re in breach of contract, Philip Dunne will pay you nothing.

He tries some amazing twists and turns too.  He’s the kind of guy who will threaten to sue you if you don’t do something, but then, if you do do it, not pay you anyway.  He might update part of the contract but then later claim it’s invalid for some ridiculous reason like it was sent by email, - even though he wrote the update himself.  Stuff a 10 year old kid could see through.  But there’ll be nothing you’ll be able to do, because, as noted above, he has your money and controls the cash flow.

So the solution is DON’T BUY in the first place.  Island TEFL is a scam and Philip Dunne is a scammer.  Anyone who buys an Island TEFL franchise is a complete idiot.  It's thin air, there's nothing there.  Just a website, which is controlled by Philip Dunne.  If you should ever fall out with him you have nothing.

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